Can Horses See Electric Fencing? The question is often asked if horses can see the wide electric fencing tape better than standard fencing wire and the probable answer based on the human eye is yes, the question whether they can see wire AT ALL is a different question and the answer is generally based on quotes from "experts". Good with depth, trouble with depth; colour-blind, not colour-blind; sharp vision, blurry vision - which is it? Answers differ, depending on who is doing the talking. More often than not, the speaker is someone people trust and, therefore, do not question - the well-known clinician or the feared riding instructor. Unfortunately, some of these authorities base their comments on hearsay, on folklore, on myth. Hearsay is a worry - generally untested, most likely un-documented, it is the cause of much misunderstanding. Conjecture suggests that this supposed poor vision is because of the lateral placement of the eyes limiting the binocular vision of horses. This lateral eye placement, meaning their eyes are located on the sides of their heads, gives them a much larger field of view compared to humans; in fact, when holding their heads level, they possess a nearly spherical field of vision. An advantage in detecting predators, many prey animals have this sort of eye placement - a horse is a historical prey animal as seen by the Zebra today. But horse eyes are also placed somewhat frontally, affording them binocular overlap ranging from 55 to 65 degrees. The horse's retina contains a narrow horizontal streak across the centre of the eye densely packed with receptor cells called cones. This provides an elongated band of acute vision over much of the lateral range. Think about it. How can an animal gallop full speed over uneven ground, easily clear high hurdles, step over rocks and logs, or nudge a friend gently with inadequate depth perception? I have personally fallen in front of a bunch of galloping horses but they all manage to avoid me lying on the ground. Put that way, it sounds rather silly to think that a horses eyesight is inferior to a human. There is absolutely no authentic scientific research work carried out proving a horse does not see wire as well as a human. Seeing as the wide tapes only came onto the market in the later stages of the 20th. Century and horses have been effectively fenced in by smooth and barbed wire fences for decades before that suggesting that horses do indeed see smooth wire quite easily. That is not to say there have not been horrific injuries to horses caught in wire fences - there has. On reading reports of injuries there does emerge a general trend to these injuries being caused when the fencing is poor or the horse was on its' own trying to get to a companion. Most likely, the horse will see the smooth wire fence as easily as the tape fence. The logical extension to the query would be "Why use tape at all?" when the only advantage it has is the supposed visibility. Electric Fencing Tape has a few major issues with the product; - Plastics biggest enemy is the Ultra Violet rays in sunlight. These react with plastic causing them to lose colour and flexibility. The plastic becomes brittle and so break. The surface area of a tape is five times greater than a rope with the similar number of filaments so a greater amount of UV stabilising compound has to be incorporated to extend the life of the material driving up the cost of it.
- The large surface area causes it to be affected to a greater extent than a rope. The wind causes it to whip around and flap, this in turn applies stress to the metal filaments woven into the tape. This constant bending back and forth will cause them to break so reducing the conductivity of the tape. This is so evident that many manufacturers warn against using the product in wind prone conditions.
- The wire filaments within the tape run parallel and are not connected (Except in the more expensive products) so if all are not initially touching the connecting medium then the overall conductivity is compromised. Similarly if one filament breaks, then from that point on it no longer contributes to the fence.
There is only one thing to be considered when looking at tapes, rope or twine to use on an Electric Fence: - The Conductivity (the ability to carry electricity) of the material. An Elephant or horse will not be fenced in by plain rope or tapes but apply an electric current and they are easily contained. The quality of the electronic "sting" delivered to the target is directly dependant on the quality of the conducting material. This is the "barb" that will keep your target animal where you want him. The conductivity of the material is quoted as Ohms per metre (this is a measure of the inline resistance). The higher this figure is - the less of the current that is delivered to that important sting. The lower the Ohms/metre figure is, the more electricity it will carry and deliver an effective sting. For example: - An energizer capable of energizing 9klm with a 0.05 Ohms/m. conductor will be reduced to just 1.3klm if you use a conductor of over 10 Ohms/m. Conversely, when an energizer is used to charge 1.3 klm of fence using a good conductor it will use less energy than using a poor conductor; - your batteries will last far longer. |
